Filming feeder



June 24, 1941. F. L BISHOP, JR .2,247,010

FILMING FEEDER Fiied April 14, 1939 n INVENTOR Frederic L.Bi.shop Jl:

Patented June 24, 41941 FILMING FEEDER Frederic L. Bishop, Jr., Jeannette, Pa., assignor to American Window Glass Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 14, 1939, Serial No. 267,946

(Cl. .S1- 43) 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to lming feeders for the formation of a film of a material in liquid form on a sheet positioned therebel'ow. My invention is particularly applicable to feeders for flowing a lm of strengthening material in liquid form on a glass sheet to be used in the manufacture of laminated glass. My invention is not limited to feeders of this character but in order to facilitate the description of the invention'and in order to point out the advantages thereof it will be described herein as applied to feeders of this type.

In the so-called liquid process of manufacturing laminated glass the glass sheets are carefully and thoroughly cleaned and then placed on a conf veying mechanism. which carries the sheets past apparatus for removing any dust or dirt which may have gotten on the glass sheets after thev cleaning operation was performed. Thereafter the glass sheets are carried 'by the conveying mechanism beneath a filming feeder which flows a relatively thick film of a strengthening material in liquid form' on each of the glass sheets. The glass sheets are then passed through a drying oven on appropriate conveying mechanism for drying the layers of strengthening material and after the drying takes place the coated glass sheets are united either with an uncoated glass sheet or a similarly coated glass sheet in any suitable manner. The sandwich thus formed is subjected to pressure or heat in order to effect asatisfactory bond.

In this process considerable diiiiculty has been encountered in the formation of theJ lms of strengthening material on the glass sheets'and in the subsequent operations and unless the opera- -i tions are carried out with great care the resulting product will be unsatisfactory. Streaks sometimes are present in the finished product which render it entirely unsatisfactory. At times satisfactory bonding is not obtained between the strengthening material and the glass sheets and these non-contacts render the finished product entirely unsatisfactory. In addition a satisfactory cutoff of the strengthening material .along the edges of the glass sheets is frequently not obtained.

When this condition prevails the strengthening material, which is in a highly viscous state when it is owed on the glass sheets, will not be evenly distributed over the areas of the glass sheets and this results in non-contacts and other dim,- culties. I have. found that these d'culties'4 are caused in most instances by the freezing up of the strengthening material on the lip or lower edge ofthe lming feeder as the strengthening material is flowed onto the glass sheets.

I have found that by changing the lower edge of the lip of the filming feeder over which the strengthening material flows onto the glass sheet these difculties canljbe eliminated. I have found that by beveling the lower edge of this lip so as to cause the strengthening material to leave the lip from a relatively sharp point the strengthening material will not freeze up along the lip. 'I'his eliminates the necessity of regularly cleaning oif the lower end of the lip. This prevents the necessity of interrupting operations during thc lming of the sheets. streaks, non-contacts, and poor cut-olf are all eliminated by this invention and, furthermore, it permits the use of a strengthening material which has a substantially higher viscosity than that which has been utilized to date. Heretofore it has been considered impossible tov in.

crease the viscosity .of the liquid strengthening material when it is flowed on the.glass sheets because when increased a nonuniform film resulted. However, where a feeder embodying my invention is utilized I have found that a uniform iilm can be obtained on the glass sheets even though the viscosity of the strengthening material be substantially increased.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown for purposes of illustration only a preferred embodiment of my invention. In the drawing- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a filming feeder embodying my invention and the equipment utilized in conjunction therewith;

Figure 2 is a view taken along the line II-I'I of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a section taken along the III of Figure 2.

As shown in the drawing, the glass sheets to be coated with the layer of strengthening 'material are placed on conveying mechanism indicated generally by the reference character 2. Each sheet S is carried past a brush 3 which loosens any dust or dirt which may remain on the sheet after the usual cleaning 'operation The sheet then is carried past a suction nozzle 4 which removes the dirt or dust which has been loosened line III- of strengthening material is flowed thereon.- Each sheet then passes into the closed chamber 6 and from there passes through the drying apparatus` for drying the lm thereon.

The filming feeder 5` if formed of a front sheet or wall 1, side walls 8 and a bottom Wall or sheet y9. These walls form a trough which is adapted to receive the liquid strengthening material and to discharge it in the form of a film on the glass sheets. The lower end of the front wall 1 is spaced above the bottom Wall 9 so as to provide an opening I0 through which the strengthening' material may ow. The front wall 1 is xed rela-'- tive to the bottom wall 9 butin order to vary the discharge opening so as to control the rate of iiow of the strengthening material and the thickness of the film on the glass sheets a gate ll is provided. 'I'his gatesis carriedby connecting links I2 which are supported onb an eccentric the edge.

shaft I3 carried by bearings4 it in hearing plates I5 supported on the side walls. A valve handle I6 is secured to one end of the eccentric shaft for rotating the' shaft and thereby raising or lowering the gale l I. A tension bar il is secured to the front wall 1 and this is provided with openings i8 adapted to receive springs Vidvwhich are placed under compression by screws 2li. The inner end of each spring bears against a ball la' which bears against the gate, and these springs hold the gate tightly against the -iroht'walL A quadrant 2l is mounted on one side wall and bears appropriate indicia. The handle to carries an appropriate pointer 22 cooperating with the indicia on the quadrant to indicate the 'position of the gate ii.

-The bottom wall 9 has a lip portion 23 which extends below or beyond the discharge opening l0 so that as the liquid strengthening material is discharged through the opening it iiows over this inclined lip portion before being discharged onto the glass sheet S being carried therebelow. The lower edge of the lip of the bottom wall is beveled rearwardly as indicated at 26 soas to provide a point 25 from which the strengthening material is discharged onto the glass sheet -The bottom face of the bottom. wall is preferably beveled rather than the top face. I have found that best results can be obtained when the bevel 24 is of such character as to be entirely positioned above a horizontal line drawn through the point 25. By horizontal line I mean a line paralleling the plane of the sheet upon which the strengthening material is flowed. I prefer that the bevel 24 extend upwardly at an angle of approximately from this horizontal line and that the 4bottom plate extend the horizontal.- The lip of the bottom plate extends forwardly 'in the direction oi travel of the glass sheet so that the point is pointed in the direction of travel.

The strengthening material passes through the discharge opening l0 and then Hows downwardly along the lip 23 and is discharged onto the glass sheet from the point 25. In view of the fact that the bevel 24 is above the horizontal line or plane passing through the point 25, there is no tendency whatever for the viscous material to flow around By eliminating this tendency it is possible to completely eliminate any freezing up along the lip and this in turn eliminates the various diculties mntioned above and which have been heretofore prevalent in this process of manufacturing laiminated glass.

In view of the-necessity ofpreventing the hottom wall from sagging or becoming warped a reinforced bar 3B extends horizontally along the bottom face thereof. If the bottom wall is not sufficiently rigid or sufficiently reinforced the i'llm passing through the discharge opening lill will not be uniform and due to the shortness of the lip 23 the lm may not have suillcient opportunity to become uniform in thickness before it is flowed on the glass sheets. As is well known, it is highly desirable that the film be of substantially uniform thickness when it is owed--on the glass sheet otherwise diiculties, such as non-contacts, will be encountered. Increased pressures and temperatures are also required where the films are not substantially uniform when flowed on the glass sheets because the strengthening material is of annoio such viscosity at this time" that it wm not now suihciently over the glass sheets to correct any substantial disparities in thickness.

While the filming feeder which I provide differs only from the prior art in the character of the edge from which the strengthening material is discharged onto'the glass sheets, this change has y brought about the surprising results mentioned ver at an angle of approximately to above. Cleaning of the edge, streaks, poorcutoil', non-contacts'and non-uniformity of film have beenV eliminated and the use of a strengthening material having a substantially higher viscosity permitted.

While I have shownl and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that my invention is not to be limited to the specic structure shown and described. My invention Ymay be otherwise embodied within the scope -of the rappended claims.

I claim: Y

r 1. A nlming) feeder for flowing a. nlm oi strengthening material on glass sheets to be used in manufacturing laminated glass, comprising front, side and bottom walls, forming a trough for receiving the filming material, the front wall being spaced above the bottom wall throughout a substantial portionl of its length to provide a discharge opening, and the bottom wall extending downwardly and forwardly beyond the lower end of the front wall of the troughto an appreciable extent and having its lower end bevelled at a substantial angle to the horizontal to provide a sharp edge beyond the lower end of the front wall from which the filming material flowing thereover is discharged therefrom.

2. A lming feeder for flowing a film of material on glass sheets comprising front, side and bottom walls forming a trough for receiving the filming material, the front wall being specified above the the discharge opening and in the plane of the topface of said wall from which the lming material flowing over the top face is discharged.

3. A filming feeder for owing a illm of strengthening material on a glass sheet to be used in the manufacture of laminated glass, comprising a, front wall, side walls, and a bottom Wall cooperating with the front and side walls to form a trough adapted to receive and support the liquid strengthening material, the bottom wall being spaced belowl the front wall throughout a substantial portion of its length to provide a discharge opening and extending below the discharge opening and beyond the lower end of the front wall so'that the strengthening material flows along the top surface of said bottom wall after leaving the discharge opening, and said bottom wall having its loweredge -bevelled at a substantial angle to the horizontal to provide a sharp edge spaced from the discharge opening 

